Adrian never thought that after so many years had passed, and even after the last person who knew the truth-Carl-had died, Brettley would have found a way to expose the truth, and at his wedding, no less!
“I was always told that my mother died while giving birth to me, and never once did it cross my mind that she survived. Therefore, when I was five and my mother came all the way to Morrison Mansion to find me, I mistook her as a stranger and even insulted her,”
Brettley glanced coldly at Adrian as he explained.”
However, at that time, Mr. Morrison knew exactly who it was, and why she was doing there at our house.
“When he found out from the servants that my mother had come to find me, he returned home immediately and brainwashed me into thinking that she was a bad person and that I should stay away from her
“Five-year-old me did not know how to distinguish the truth, and so I was tricked by my own father into insulting my mother. She was devastated by all this, and Mr. Morrison seized the opportunity to insult and provoke her, causing her to finally take her own life”
Brettley turned to gaze at the crowd watching him. “This is the truth about my mother, Rianna’s death. We’ve all been tricked by Mr. Adrian Morrison for over two decades, and as for the rest of the evidence regarding his involvement in her murder…”
He turned to glance at Celia.
Celia understood immediately, then turned to stare solemnly at the crowd before her. “I have proof of all Adrian’s wrongdoings over the years.”
Adrian’s face turned as pale as the wall behind him. He furrowed his eyebrows and spat through gritted teeth, “Hey, I’m still Michael’s father!”
He knew he could never change Celia’s mind by talking about their marriage, and the only way he could sway her was to use their son, Michael, against her.
He knew just how much Celia loved Michael, and Michael would finally prove himself useful if the mention of him could convince Celia to switch sides and betray Brettley.
At the thought of this, Adrian sighed and sniffed. “Celia, Michael will get out in a few more years, so surely you wouldn’t want him to see his father like this when he gets released?”
Celia froze when she heard this.
Adrian was right. Michael always prided himself on being a Morrison and having Adrian as his father for many years, and even at this moment, she had yet to tell him the truth about her and Adrian’s separation.
Therefore, if he were to discover how haggard his father had become once he got released from jail, he would surely be devastated, and there was no telling how he would react to this
Celia bit her lip at the thought of this and instinctively glanced at Brettley.
The truth was, the offer Brettley had made her was extremely attractive, but it was nothing compared to her precious son
Adrian and Michael were the only ones she had, and since Adrian would never return to her side, she had only Michael left.
If Michael chose to leave her once he found out about all this…it would not matter how much money she owned anymore
No amount of money in the world could match up to her son.
At the thought of this, Celia clenched her fists.
“Aunty Celia,”
Bethan said, pursing her lips when she sensed Celia’s hesitation. She let go of Brettley’s hand and strode over to Celia’s side, smiling. “I know why you’re hesitating. I have three kids of my own, and love my children as much as you love yours, but…
She reached out to take Celia’s hand. “Have you ever stopped to consider why Michael had gone astray. and why he chose to kill his grandmother?
“Don’t you think he learned this from Mr. Adrian Morrison, the most perfect role model he had?”
Celia lifted her head to stare dazedly at Bethan. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but no words came out.
Seeing that Celia was beginning to waver, Bethan smiled and continued in a gentle voice, “Aunty Celia, how naive do you think Michael is? Do you think he’ll continue protecting his father once he finds out about all this?
“Well, I don’t think so. In fact, I think that once he finds out, he’ll admire how courageous you were to step forward and expose Mr. Adrian for who he is.
“Besides you’ve seen just how much debt Mr. Adrian owes, and considering that Brettley will never give him even a single penny, it’s up to him to pay back all this debt. This is a fact, whether you like it or not.”
She squeezed Celia’s hand and continued, “I’m certain that Mr. Adrian’s debt will pass on to Michael once he gets released, and do you honestly think Michael will continue to appreciate and respect a father who’s done despicable things and left him a lifetime of debt?”
There was a faint glimmer in Celia’s eyes.
She lifted her head to stare at Bethan rather dazedly, but her gaze seemed to speak a thousand words.
Bethan knew that Celia was waiting for a confirmation, so she let out an exhale and turned to glance at Brettley.
Brettley smiled and shot her a look of affirmation.
Bethan finally smiled, turned back to meet Celia’s gaze, and said softly, “Aunty Celia, if you step forward and expose Mr. Adrian for who he truly is, Brettley will treat you well in the future. Besides, you’re the mother of Brettley’s brother, and if you expose the truth, Brettley will take care of both you and Michael. He’ll never allow you two to fend for yourselves in this cruel world.”
This tugged at Celia’s heartstrings.
The truth was, she never cared about Adrian at all-all she cared about was Michael!
She almost fell right into Adrian’s trap!
Michael was her son, and she could see through every last thought in his head. The only reason Michael adored his father was that Adrian had always been generous to them, and if Adrian lost all his money and went broke, Michael would never want to be associated with him.
If she stepped forward and exposed Adrian’s true colors, in Brettley’s favor, Brettley would fulfill his promise and provide the life she wanted.
With Brettley’s help, she could start her own business, and start her new life afresh. This was a far better option than letting Michael go with Adrian and inherit his debt.
“Also…”
Bethan curled her lips into a smile as she sensed Celia’s thoughts, and whispered in her ear, “Think about this. Brettley is already powerful enough in Banyan City, yet the loan sharks are relentlessly demanding money from him even at such an event. Do you think that they won’t do the same, if not worse, to Michael in the future, once they find out about his association with Adrian? After all, loan sharks aren’t the people you want to mess with…”
Celia clenched her fists upon hearing this.
Bethan was right! If she did not step forward to expose Adrian and split their differences, not only would she lose Brettley’s help, she would even land herself and Michael in trouble by association with Adrian.
Celia finally came to a decision and knew what she had to do.
She let out an exhale, stepped forward, and took Brettley’s microphone from him. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Celia Giles.
“I was the nanny Rianna hired more than twenty years ago when she was still pregnant with Brettley. At that time, I was younger, and prettier than Rianna during her pregnancy.
“I wanted to do my job properly as the Morrison’s nanny and earn the money I deserved, considering that the pay was more than satisfying for someone who had come from a poor village like me, but…”
She turned to stare coldly at Adrian. “Mr. Adrian told me that he had fallen for me, and asked me if I wanted to live a life like Rianna’s.
“Since I was always taking care of her, I had seen plenty of her day-to-day, and her life was far more luxurious and comfortable than my mind could ever imagine, so naturally, I aspired to be like her.
“This was how Adrian and I got together. He convinced me to quit my job as Rianna’s nanny and promised that he’d take care of me for the rest of my life. He even told me that once Rianna delivered her child, he’d kill her, and I’d become the new Mrs. Morrison.”
Despair spread across Celia’s face as she continued, staring at Adrian, “When I resigned, Rianna thought that I was returning to my hometown to get married, and even gave me some money in compensation for the fact she could not attend my ‘wedding’ in person.
“When I told you about this, you said that Rianna was a two-faced bitch who only gave me money because she wanted to buy me over.
“At that time, I was naive and believed every word you said, but now, I realized that every insult and every bad thing you said about Rianna was false. Rianna did nothing wrong, but…you’re an ungrateful, deceitful crook!”
What Celia said had shaken everyone at the wedding and created an uproar.
Everyone started to discuss and whispered to each other.
Although Celia had aged with time and she did not maintain her face very well, it was easy to tell she was quite a beautiful woman in her prime.
Many people thought she was just a woman Adrian met.
Who would have thought…Celia actually worked in the household as their nanny when Rianna was pregnant.
In other words, Adrian fell for Rianna’s nanny when Rianna was pregnant and, at that time, started to think about killing Rianna.
That was why Celia resigned and left Rianna, lying that she needed to go back to her hometown to get married and have kids.
The naive Rianna thought Celia was telling the truth.
She even gave some money to Celia in hope that Celia would have a great life ahead of her.
As people discussed further, they felt even more sorry for Rianna.
Their conclusion was how kind Rianna was and what a jerk Adrian had been.
Adrian’s face looked terrible as he overheard some of the discussion.
He furrowed his brows vehemently and glared at Brettley who was beside him.
“I know there’d be nothing good about your return! I thought you came with a blessing for my new marriage and, at the very least, respect! But I didn’t think that you’d come to ruin my wedding!”
“Weren’t you the one who invited me to ruin it?”
Brettley smiled plainly as he looked at how unsatisfied his father was.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.